Why You Should Introduce Patreon to your YouTube Viewers

While Patreon may not be right for everyone’s channel, there’s a lot of reasons why you should use Patreon with your YouTube community. It’s great for developing relationships with your viewers, earning money to make your channel sustainable, and growing a community beyond YouTube. A few of the Video Creators patrons joined me to share why we think introducing Patreon to your community is a great idea.

Patreon isn’t just about money

The first reason why I would recommend that you consider using Patreon, is because it’s not just about getting money. It’s not just about like, hey, pay me to make these free videos for you. It’s not about that. It’s about giving your viewers an opportunity to take a next step with you, in their relationship with you, to go deeper into the community that surrounds your channel.

Patreon allows you to build stronger relationships with your audience

It allows me to get closer to some of you guys and to invest more into your channel specifically, and your projects, and your road blocks, and your issues, and your successes, and your challenges, and everything like that in ways that I can’t do here on this channel. And for those of you guys who use Patreon with your community, the same thing will be true. You’ll be able to be way more hands on with your audience. You’ll be able to get to know them more personally. And you’ll be able to build a better relationship with them overall.

You can serve your audience better

It allows you to serve your audience better than you can just through your YouTube channel alone. Like I can only do so much with you guys here just by posting videos here on this channel.

Feedback

Having a community of patrons means that you also have a sounding board. You have trusted voices that you can go to asking for feedback, getting opinions, people who will share their thoughts with you because they love you and they genuinely want to help you succeed, because they are financially invested.

These aren’t people who just say they love what you’re doing and people who just say they support you. These are people who literally are supporting you. And so if you have questions, they make for a really good sounding board and give you really good feedback.

It frees up time

I really love it because it allows me to spend more time focusing on making content that you guys really appreciate and that serves you really well. Otherwise, I’ve got to spend more time, honestly, working with the people who pay the bills, the people who have the big budgets.

And I know a lot of you guys don’t have big budgets. So collectively, you guys can come together and you can support me and my family and the team here, and allow us to do everything we can to serve you guys. And I love it that because of Patreon, I can spend more time serving you guys. And I know you’re going– again, you’re going to do the same thing with your community.

Rather than you spending all your time going out trying to land brand deals, trying to do all the business stuff, you’re like, you know what. My patrons got my back. They literally are supporting this financially. And I can just invest my time into doing what I love to serve them the best way I know how.

And the cool part about that is then creators like me, and other creators using Patreon, we report directly to you guys, directly to our viewers. We don’t have to report to some agency or some whoever’s got the deep pockets that’s paying us. And then we’re just kind of like trying to make them happy ultimately. And also, keeping it– like, no.

There’s no confusion. It’s like we report directly to you guys through Patreon.

Consistent income

And because of that, let’s not forget number six– it provides a consistent income so that we can continue to do what we love to serve the people that we love to serve. I actually asked the Video Creators’ patrons why they think a creator should consider introducing Patreon to their community. And a lot of them sent me video clips with their responses. And I will share some of them with you here.

What other creators are saying:

I’m Christy-Lyn from “Christy-Lyn’s music,” where I sing and play the harp and also encourage other harpists. Patreon is a place that allows your supporters to be a part of the creative process, giving ideas and also feedback. It allows them to feel a sense of importance, that they’re a part of making your channel sustainable. They really care about your work and they want to support you. So this gives them the opportunity.

Hi there. My name is Ken Steepe. I run a YouTube channel called “McCann Dogs,” where we help people to enrich their dogs’ lives and we help their dogs to become well-behaved, four-legged family members. I think it’s really important that YouTube creators get comfortable with the idea being supported by patrons, because what you’re giving those patrons in return is access to a community, a community of people with similar interests, with similar goals. But we all know the strongest element of community is a common belief. And you can be sure that that common belief is that you and your content is worth supporting.

Hi, I am Quinten, and I run a channel called “LightFeather.” On there, I try to light people’s day up and make them smile through comedy. I think when a creator makes money the right way on Patreon, they make a smaller, more tight community within their larger community. And those are the people that really want to be with them. And also make a bit more of a living for the creator. So it’s like a win-win.

My name is Ariane Arsenault. I have a handcrafted soap and cosmetic channel for my brand, La Fille de la Mer, where I show my process and help inspire other crafters. Most jobs come with a paycheck. And more than you think, fans will be happy to support you for the value that you’ve been giving them.

It makes everything more sustainable and it brings me or you, the creators, closer to your fans. It’s gratifying and challenging. And at the end of the day, it’s not just me alone making videos. It’s me sharing and connecting with the whole community. It’s a good feeling.

Hi, my name is Casey Durango, and I run a channel called “Go Keto with Casey,” where I talk about the ketogenic diet. YouTube creators should feel fantastic about being part of Patreon and encouraging their viewers to contribute. Patreon is a great community-building platform. And the people who value your content want to be a part of that community.

They value you. Let them show you how much they do value you. Enjoy it.

I’m Charlotte, and I run “Pretty Scary,” a channel where I show people how to turn themselves into various different monsters and creatures through the art of makeup. I think that YouTubers should definitely feel good about allowing their community to give back to them through Patreon. We’re in a very, very unsteady landscape when it comes to YouTube AdSense.

And I also think it’s a great way for the community to share their support for us through the blood, sweat, and tears that we put into the free content that we provide. But also, it allows us as creators to give even more back to our community, which is why we’re here. So I give Patreon a big thumbs up.

My name is Johanna. And I am more popularly known on YouTube as “DennygirlJO.” I love making YouTube videos because it allows me sharing useful information with others. Life always comes with unexpected changes. And having options outside of YouTube that allows you in earning more so that you can, in turn, put out better content should always be explored. And Patreon is just an awesome avenue in exploring this.

Hey, I’m Bret Atwood. And I run my family’s YouTube channel by the same name. We record and share videos of our life together in an attempt to entertain others as much as we entertain ourselves. I come to this question as a small, growing creator, consumer, and traditional service-based business owner.

I think is very important that we realize that our time and efforts have value. As a consumer of videos on YouTube and patron of multiple creators, I realize that as well. Some creators have no other way to participate in their channel other than the comments section or other social media outlets. Patreon gives me the opportunity to show them that I appreciate what they’re doing and support them to continue.

Hello, my name is Angela Anderson. I have an acrylic painting channel on YouTube where I teach live classes twice a week and help people learn how to paint in a fun and encouraging environment. We are on Patreon now since February. It’s been really awesome.

We do traceables there, bonus videos. We have a Facebook group. We do live chats and challenges and polls. It’s really helped me to engage with my core audience. And I wish I had done it a long time ago. It’s been awesome.

Hello, my name is Jens, and I run a channel called “Various Gaming,” a channel where people can enjoy games without being pros. It’s a really small YouTube channel. It’s really hard to make any money from revenues. Therefore, the Patreon community is a really a good way to get you started.

Hi, everyone. I’m Jaime Drumm from “Relaxing Sleep Station.” We’re all about helping people reduce their anxiety so that they can sleep. The way I like to think of it that if you’re at a restaurant and you provided amazing service, people would want to tip you for that and acknowledge the service, acknowledge the value that you’ve brought to their experience.

And it’s the same way with your channel. And there’s no reason why Patreon can’t be that platform for you to develop those relationships and build your community. And give people the opportunity to say thank you, and to help you continue on your journey so you can create the content that excites them, that they enjoy, and keeps them coming back to your channel again and again.

In the description beneath this video, you will find links to all of the channels of the people you just saw in this video. And if you would like to join our awesome community over at Patreon, I would love to have you. It’s at Patreon.com/VideoCreators.

And any amount, like any support that you want to give to “Video Creators” and become a deeper part of this community is greatly appreciated. I love being able to do more with you guys there than I can here through this channel. And I would love to have you join that awesome community of creators, how you support each other and encourage each other and help each other grow.

I want to hear from you in the comments below about one, do you use Patreon with your audience? And two, how did you introduce it to your audience, and what was the response like? And if you have any tips for using Patreon on with your audience.